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Issue: Mad #48
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Title:
Variant: unnamed
Rating:
Publisher: FlagEC
Brand:
Indicia Publisher: E.C. Publications Inc.
On Sale Date: 1959
Volume: 1
Pages: 52
ISBN: none
UPC/EAN: none
Price: $0.25 USD
Indicia Frequency:
Content Items: 28 (16 stories, 1 cover)
Editor(s):  
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Publication Type: Comic Book
Color: color (#1-23, 400-550); color cover with black & white interior (#24-399)
Dimensions: standard Golden Age US (#1-23); magazine size (#24 onward)
Paper Stock: glossy cover
Binding: saddle-stitched
Publishing Format: Was Ongoing Series
Format Notes:  
Disclose Reprinted From0
There is currently no data for this Issue being reprinted from anywhere.
Disclose Images1
Cover, Front
Original Artwork
Digital Edition
Adult Image
Title Page
Indicia on this Page
 
 
Assets0
 
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I Want You

Illustration  on  Cover, Front
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Alfred E. Neuman; Uncle Sam
Reprinting
FlagMad about the Fifties #[nn] [Standard Edition] published January 1997
as Mad magazine covers [Cover Reprint (on Interior Page) on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
1
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Awaysis Takes You Away from the Everyday!

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Awaysis Cigarettes
Parody of an advertisement for Oasis cigarettes.
Reprinting
FlagMad about the Fifties #[nn] [Standard Edition] published January 1997
as Mad ad: Awaysis Cigarettes [Story on Interior Page(s)]from insider front cover
 
Miscellaneous
1
Inside front cover.
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Departments

Foreword, Introduction, Preface, Afterword  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
various
various
typeset
Subject Matter
Vital Features
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Art is excerpts from this issue. There is a writer credit for Gary Belkin and Bill Dixon, but uncertain what article(s) it is for.
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A Revolutionary New Idea in Casual Wear

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Mad Straight Jacket
Leonard Brenner
House advertisement for fake straitjacket.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.33
Leonard is the model with back turned to the reader; named in letters column of Mad #49.
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Books That Can Do What They Look Like They Can Do

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
The Bedside Mad
House advertisement for the sixth Mad paperback book.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.17
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Random Samplings of Reader Mail

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
George A. Orndorff; Seward McCain; Brett Maverick
Letters of comment, mostly about issue #46. Barbara Forrester suggests that Alfred's girlfriend be named Moxie Cowznofsky, and the editor agrees. Letters from: Merwyn Nelson, Josh Zerlin, Jack Marin, Alan Peikin, Charles Allen, Joseph Lipari, Tommy LeClair, Ken Luciani, Russ Durham, Howard Arnberg, David Colton, Seward McCain, Jim Fautus, Wayne Montgomery, Jarl Johansson, and Barbara Forrester.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
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Have Mad Mailed to Your Home

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Subject Matter
Mad Magazine
House advertisement for Mad subscriptions.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.17
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You'll Have a Million Laughs

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Musically Mad
Alfred E. Neuman
House advertisement for the first Mad record album, from RCA Victor.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.33
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Comic Strip Heroes (Taken from Real Life)

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Conrad Hilton; Werner Von Braun; Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip; Prince Charles; Hymie Rickover; Richard Nixon; Pat Nixon; Gamal Abdel Nasser; Nikita Krushchev; Mrs. Krushchev; Alfred E. Neuman; Jimmy Hoffa; Charles DeGaulle; Hubert Humphrey; Adlai Stevenson; Harry Truman; General Douglas MacArthur; Li'l Abner (cameo); Daisy Mae (cameo); Snuffy Smith (cameo); Snuffy's wife (cameo); Kayo Mullins (cameo); Moon Mullins (cameo); Steve Canyon (cameo); Alley Oop (cameo); Beetle Bailey (cameo); Killer (cameo); Pogo (cameo); Howland Owl (cameo); Lucy Van Pelt (cameo); Charlie Brown (cameo)
Comic strips about currently famous people, in styles similar to current comic strips.
Reprinting
FlagMad about the Fifties #[nn] [Standard Edition] published January 1997
as Comic Strip Heroes (Taken From Real Life) [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
4
Writer credit from "Totally MAD" CD collection.

The portion of this story involving the British Royal Family was the subject of an article critical of it in the British tabloid newspaper, Sunday Pictorial (Mirror Group, 1915 series) May 31, 1959, "A Stupid Insult". Geraldine House and editor L. A. Lee Howard of the Sunday Pictorial sent a copy of the offending page and a letter protesting the story to F. Bowen Evans, the Acting Public Affairs Officer at the American Embassy in London. In particular, they wrote that a number of their readers had already voiced their displeasure over the story and hope that future plans to distribute Mad magazine in Great Britain would not happen.

Evans contacted the Department of State offices in Washington, D.C., and inquired if the U.S. Government could take any action towards Mad magazine. By July 1959, the State Department replied back to Evans that no legal action could be taken against the magazine or publisher. They did suggest that the British Board of Trade could deny Mad a license for distribution in Great Britain. The agency also decided not to contact E.C. regarding this matter as it was determined to be inappropriate. Lastly, it was also pointed out that then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon was also subject of the satire in that issue as well.

The State Department advised that continuing to make an issue out of the matter "would likely add more grist to the mill of this dispute."

Sunday Pictorial is now known as the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

Source: U.S. Embassy London to Department of State, Despatch 2914, June 5, 1959, and Department of State to U.S. Embassy London, Instruction A-53, July 21, 1959, both from file 911.63/6-559, 1955-59 Central Decimal File (NAID 302021), RG 59: General Records of the Department of State. and The Text Message,“'A Stupid Insult:' MAD Magazine and the British Royal Family, 1959" by David Langbart, archivist in Textual Reference at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland via https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2021/04/27/mad-magazine-and-the-british-royal-family-1959/.
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Little Known Organizations

Text Article  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Advertisements for organizations that would oppose actual organizations, such as Alcoholics Unanimous, and Committee To Encourage Juvenile Delinquency.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
3
Writer credit from "Totally MAD" CD collection.
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Skin Diving

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Problems with skin diving, new developments, and the ultimate return of man to the sea.
Reprinting
FlagDave Berg's Mad Trash #[nn] published January 1981
as Skin Diving [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
3
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The Cavemen

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
A cavewoman who is resistant to being clobbered on the head falls for a man with an unusual approach.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
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For the Life of Progress Hornsby

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Sid Caesar; Ed Ralphwards; Progress Hornsby; Euphoria Hornsby; Bosley Mandiville; Shorty Bubble; Doornet Jaguar; One-Stick Haverstraw; Particular Frosty; 7892-450-37
Progress appears on the tv show "For the Life of You", a parody of "This Is Your Life."
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
4
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Bridge: The Aristocrat of Card Games

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Charles Groan
Defines common bridge terms, gives advice and shows the pitfalls of playing bridge. Includes a phony newspaper bridge column.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
3
Writer credit from "Totally Mad" CD collection.
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The Old Salt

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
A man delicately solves the problem of his parrot going to the bathroom in his shirt.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
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The Daily Optimist

Text Article  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
On the Sunny Side of the Sheet Dept.
Bosley Skagg; Penelope Skagg; T. Finster Moody; Felix Farquahr; Lydia Farquahr; Ethel Frong; Herman Frong; Philo Fosdick; Weldon Wembley; Hector Sedgewick; Tommy Goober; Glenn Pladde; Fenwick Gribble
Sample of a newspaper that prints all news with a positive spin...no matter how bad the news is.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
Writer credit from "Totally MAD" CD collection.
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On-the-Job Marching Songs

Text Article  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
4/4 Time-and-a-Half Dept.
Spirit and loyalty building songs for various industries' employees, set to familiar melodies.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
3
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The Night That Perry Masonmint Lost a Case

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Perry Masonmint; Lieutenant Drag; District Attorney Burgerbits; Judge Sam; Paul Dreck; Della Sweet; Harry Townes; Emil Freebish
Perry finally loses a case, because he only wins on Saturday nights.
Reprinting
FlagMad about the Fifties #[nn] [Standard Edition] published January 1997
as The Night That Perry Masonmint Lost a Case [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
4
A parody of the Perry Mason TV show. Writer credit from "Totally MAD" CD collection.
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Future "Confession" Books

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Confession Is Good for the Sale Dept.
Perry Como; Eleanor Roosevelt; Dizzy Gillespie; Oscar Levant; Alfred E. Neuman; Jack Paar
Future celebrity confession books.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
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How You Look to Other People

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Alfred E. Neuman
How you might look to people you deal with daily, based on your value to them.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
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How a Television Script Is Born

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Follows a script from the original author through various rewrites, showing how all the meaning and creativity is gradually watered down.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
4
Writer credit from "Totally Mad" CD collection.
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Graduation Speeches... That Somebody Listened To

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Summa cum Louder Dept.
Jack Benny; Steve Allen; Ed Sullivan; Dick Clark; Richard Nixon; Fidel Castro
Possible graduation speeches that could have helped form the philosophies of some celebrities.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
Writer credit from "Totally Mad" CD collection.
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Insurance Policies for Teen-agers

Text Article  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Ideas for insurance policies against common hazards of teen-agers, such as blind dates and flunking school.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
Writer credit from "Totally MAD" CD collection.
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Miracle Fabrics

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
The good and bad points of modern synthetic fabrics.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
4
Writer credit from "Totally MAD" CD collection.
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How To Play Croquet

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
An unusual way to play the ball when it lands in a kid's mouth.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Disclose
Who Says Lightning Never Strike Twice in the Same Place?

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Mad Forever
Alfred E. Neuman
House advertisement for the hardcover book from Crown Publishers.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Inside back cover.

Wally Wood's credit is for a small image of Alfred at bottom of the page.
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News Stars for Old Movies

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Casting ideas for remakes of old movies.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0
The cartoons for this sequence appear in the margins of 24 pages of the issue.
Disclose
Great Moments in Medicine

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Park-David
Parody of Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Company advertisements.
Reprinting
FlagMad about the Fifties #[nn] [Standard Edition] published January 1997
as Mad ad: Park-David [Story on Interior Page(s)]back cover
 
Miscellaneous
1
Back cover.

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